Device for digital imaging and storage of a document

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is described for the digital imaging and storing of a document with a digital image capturing device and with an evaluation circuit for the digital image which can be stored in a memory which evaluation circuit can be connected to the digital image capturing device and is formed by a computer. In order to provide an advantageous precondition for the mobile use of such apparatuses it is proposed that the digital image capturing device consists of a digital camera that from the stored digital image two digital image files can be derived through the evaluation circuit, one the one hand for color images with low resolution and on the other hand for monochrome images in a two-tone representation with high resolution, and can be read into memory units that a portable carrying-case-like container is provided for the computer, its input device, and the digital camera whose opened lid forms a stand for an extension arm for receiving the digital camera and that the container comprises a cover that can be opened the carrying-case space as a support for the document to be captured.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Austrian ApplicationNo. A190/2001 filed Feb. 7, 2001. Applicant also claims priority under35 U.S.C. §365 of PCT/AT02/00041 filed Feb. 5, 2002. The internationalapplication under PCT article 21(2) was not published in English.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus for the digital imaging andstoring of a document with a digital image capturing device and with anevaluation circuit for the digital image which can be stored in amemory, which evaluation circuit can be connected to the digital imagecapturing device and is formed by a computer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

For the purpose of digital imaging of documents, digital picturescanning devices in the form of scanners are used through which thecaptured digital pixels of the images are saved in order to manage thedigital image files with the help of programs by using computers.Evaluation circuits which are formed by computers can be used to editand print the stored image files as required. The efforts in connectionwith said known scanners for digital imaging and storing of documentsmake such a usually stationary device unsuitable for mobile use.Moreover, said known scanners can only be used economically when thedocuments to be imaged are supplied in stacks.

In order to enable a courier service to carry out the easyidentification of packets which due to deficient information on thedelivery address cannot be delivered and are therefore intermediatelystored it is known (WO 98/22 888 A1) to store a digital image of saidpackets which is produced by means of a digital camera. Key data such asa predominant color or the packet size which can be obtained from theimage from a predetermined image scale are obtained through anevaluation circuit and stored separately according to a specific packetfor simplifying the search. This known image scanning device is notsuitable for digital imaging and storing documents whose content is tobe scanned with the lowest possible loss of information with acomparatively low amount of storage space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the object of providing an apparatus fordigital imaging and storing documents in such a way that an economicalscanning and storing of the scanned documents is possible on site,namely under the condition of the simplest possible handling.

This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in such a waythat the digital image capturing device consists of a digital camera,that from the stored digital image two digital image files can bederived through the evaluation circuit, one the one hand for colorimages with low resolution and on the other hand for monochrome imagesin a two-tone representation with high resolution, and can be read intomemory units, that a portable carrying-case,-like container is providedfor the computer, its input device and the digital camera whose openedlid forms a stand for an extension arm for receiving the digital camera,and that the container comprises a cover that can be opened for thecarrying-case space as a support for the document to be captured.

By providing a commercially available digital camera which must ensure arespectively high resolution of the digital image however, low recordingtimes for the document imaging can be ensured as a result of thesimultaneous scanning of all pixels in comparison with the line-by-linepixel scanning of conventional scanners. Moreover, the imaging by thedigital camera is not limited to two-dimensional documents. Since twodigital image files can be derived from the digital imaging of adocument by way of the evaluation circuit which produces on the one handa color image of low resolution and on the other hand a monochrome imagein two-tone representation of high resolution, the potentially largeamount of data of the digital imaging of a document can be reducedconsiderably without having to take into account any meaningful loss ofinformation. The monochrome two-tone representation corresponds to theusual black and white analogue copy of a document and, due to the highresolution, offers an imaging precision which is sufficient forpost-processing by optical character recognition for example. Since suchmonochrome two-tone representations cause a loss of image information inthe case of colored documents or different grey shades, this loss ofinformation is substantially compensated by the image file for the colorreproduction which does not require any high resolution because the mainintention is to display this color representation of the imaged documenton a screen in order to enable the reading of characters with a colormarking in the background. In this way it is possible to keep the sizeof the two image documents small in comparison with the digital image ofa document as taken by the digital camera without having to make dowithout the essential image information. With a conventional compressionof the image files the current memories can be used advantageously forstoring a plurality of documents. Due to the fact that conventional fileformats are used, the stored image files can be managed advantageouslywith conventional programs.

The use of a conventional digital camera further provides an importantprecondition for the mobile use of such apparatuses because theseapparatuses can be combined in a portable, carrying-case-like container.For this purpose the opened lid of the container contains a stand for anextension arm for receiving the digital camera. A cover that can beopened for the carrying-case space forms a support for the document tobe scanned.

The computer held in the carrying-case space needs to be connected withthe digital camera merely by means of a respective control and datatransmission cable in order to start the digital imaging of a documentwhich is placed on the support of the carrying-case space. It isunderstood that a chargeable power source needs to be provided in thecarrying-case-like container in order to enable the power supply both ofthe computer as well as the digital camera. The input device of thecomputer as provided for the control of the computer and the digitalcamera can be stowed in the carrying-case space for transport like thedigital camera.

Especially simple operating conditions are obtained when the coversupports a screen which is controlled via the digital camera on the onehand and via the computer on the other hand, so that the screen displaysthe image of the document as taken by the digital camera on the one handand allows the operation of the computer via a conventional screendisplay on the other hand. The changeover of the screen control canadvantageously occur via the input device of the computer.

Although the extension arm for receiving the digital camera can bearranged in a removable manner in the cover of the container, especiallysimple constructional conditions are obtained when the extension is heldin a swivelable manner in the cover of the container, since in such acase the power supply for the digital camera can be secured by a cablearranged in the extension arm for example.

Since external light conditions are generally insufficient for afavorable illumination of the document to be scanned it is recommendedto provide the extension arm or the cover with an illumination devicefacing the support for the document, preferably a flashgun device. Thepower supply for this illumination device can again be provided by thepower source situated in the carrying-case space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter of the invention is shown in an exemplary manner inthe drawings. An apparatus in accordance with the invention for thedigital imaging and storing of a document is shown in a schematic blockdiagram.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to the illustrated embodiment, the apparatus for the digitalimaging and storing of a document comprises a portable,carrying-case-like container 1 whose carrying-case space 2 holds acomputer 3 with a power source 4 in the form of a chargeable accumulatorwith a power unit. The container 1 further comprises a withdrawabledrawer 5 for an input device 6 of the computer 3, with a membranekeyboard being preferably used. The carrying-case space 2 which forms areceiving means 7 for a digital camera 8 can be closed off by a cover 10which is swivelable about an axis 9 in order to form a support 11 for adocument to be imaged. The cover 12 whose hinge joint is designated withreference numeral 13 forms in a locked opened position a stand for anextension arm 14 for receiving the digital camera 8. Said extension arm14 which can be swiveled about an axis 15 and can be locked in the statewhen swung out forms a camera stand together with the opened cover 12 ofthe container 1, which stand holds the digital camera 8 in a snapshotposition which is perpendicular to the support 11, so that especiallyfavorable snapshot conditions can be ensured for imaging a document onthe support 11. Since the extension arm 14 is additionally provided withan illumination device 16 such as a ring flash, an illumination of thedocument to be imaged is ensured which is independent from the outsidelighting conditions. The digital camera 8 and the illumination device 16are connected to the power source 4 like the computer 3.

In the region of the cover 12, a screen 17 is provided which iscontrolled on the one hand by the computer 3 and on the other hand bythe digital camera 8. The computer 3 can therefore be operated via theinput device 6 in a conventional manner with the help of the screen 17.When the screen control is switched over via the input device 6 to thedigital camera 8, the image of the document as taken by the digitalcamera 8 is displayed with a respectively low resolution. The screen 17can therefore be used as a view finder for the digital camera 8. Thedigital color image as taken by the remote-controlled digital camera 8is transmitted to the computer 3 and saved there in a memory 18. Thedata transmission can occur via a data medium belonging to the digitalcamera 8 or be made directly.

The digital image of the imaged document as stored in the memory 18 isconverted into two image files in an evaluation circuit 19 of thecomputer 3 after having entered a command via the input-device 6, whichimage files are saved to memory units 20 and 21. These image files eachrepresent a selection of the image files as taken by the digital camera8. Whereas the one digital image file contains a color representation ofthe digital image taken in a coarse resolution, the other of the twodigital image files comprises a monochrome two-tone image of highresolution. Image information that was lost in the monochrome image filecan be queried in a supplementary manner via the image file for thecolor image. Since the monochrome image file which is saved to thememory unit 21 is used for the printout of the imaged document, amonochrome image of the document can be provided in sufficient qualityfor the printout or further processing due to the considerably reduceddata quantity, comparable with a conventional black and white analoguecopy. If certain image regions are not sufficiently readable despite thehigh resolution of the monochrome image file as a result of lack ofcolor information or lack of half-tones, the color image of memory unit20 can be additionally output on a screen which despite the lowresolution of the color image displays the lacking information with asufficient precision since screens inherently lead to a lowerresolution. It is understood that computer 3 can also be used as aconventional computer, with data exchange with other computers beingeasily possible via suitable interfaces.

After the evaluation of the digital image of the document as taken bythe digital camera 8, the memory 18 can be deleted for this digitalimage because the digital image files as derived from the digital imageand stored in the memory units 20 and 21 contain sufficient informationon the imaged document.

Since the memory 18 and the memory units 20 and 21 correspond to folderson the harddrive of the computer, the image files saved to these folderscan be managed like any other files, especially when-these files areprovided with a standard format, which is easily possible. This opens upnumerous possibilities to combine and organize the documents which weredigitally captured in the manner as described above in order to findthem again by means of suitable search functions. The management of thedigitally captured documents can obviously only occur outside ofcomputer 3. It is possible that certain basic data for organization inlater databases can already be predetermined on capturing the documentsvia the digital camera 8.

1. An apparatus for the digital imaging and storing of a document with adigital image capturing device and with an evaluation circuit for thedigital image which can be stored in memory, which evaluation circuitcan be connected to the digital image capturing device and is formed bya computer, characterized in that the digital image capturing deviceconsists of a digital camera, that from the stored digital image twodigital image files can be derived through the evaluation circuit on theone hand for color images with low resolution and on the other hand formonochrome images in a two-tone representation with higher resolution,and can be read into memory units, that a portable carrying-case-likecontainer is proved for the computer, its input device and the digitalcamera whose opened lid forms a stand for an extension arm for receivingthe digital camera, and that the container comprises a cover that can beopened for the carrying-case space as a support for the document to becaptured.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in thatthe lid carries a screen which can be controlled on the one hand by thedigital camera and on the other hand by the computer.
 3. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that the extension arm forreceiving the digital camera is held swivelably in the lid of thecontainer.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized in thatthe extension arm or the lid comprises an illumination device,preferably a flash device, which faces the support for the document.